


A Christmas Surprise

by da_athanasi



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek in a Santa suit, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 06:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13048824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/da_athanasi/pseuds/da_athanasi
Summary: Lydia drags Stiles to the mall to give him her present. Derek is not amused.





	A Christmas Surprise

“Oh my god, whyyyyyyyy,” Stiles whined. He stood in his doorway, hitching up the pajama pants slung low on his hips beneath an oversized t-shirt hanging to mid-thigh. His bed-hair was pushed to one side and he still had pillow-creases on his cheek. Normally, Stiles wouldn’t let anyone see him like this, outside maybe Scott, but pounding on his front door at nine AM the first day of Christmas break from college meant that whoever was knocking got what they got.

Of course, that person knocking happened to be Lydia Martin, ex-love of Stiles’s life and current best-friend (Scott had transcended best friend rank after all. He and Stiles were brothers.) Upon seeing the red-haired goddess, Stiles had immediately regretted his getting out of bed, because now he had to fulfill the promise he’d made to her to accompany her to the Beacon Hills mall…a week before Christmas. Stiles groaned at the idea.

“Because you need to shop for presents,” Lydia replied, pushing her way past Stiles into his house, “and I need someone to go with me to prevent me from overspending.”

Stiles snorted. “Like I can actually stop you from doing anything,” he said. 

“Hmmmm,” Lydia hummed, tapping her chin, then shrugged. “You’re still coming with me. Now go get dressed!”

Stiles groaned again, slumping his shoulders and trudging up the stairs. He knew there was no way he was getting out of this, but that didn’t stop him from being petulant.

“And don’t drag your feet! If you’re not back down here in fifteen minutes, I’m coming up there and I will make you regret it.” Lydia called up after him. 

Stiles smirked at how well she knew him. He also picked up the pace, knowing that her threat was absolutely something she would follow up on. (He still had the scars from last time. They were totally mental scars, but they were definitely there!)

Stiles quickly brushed his teeth, threw on some clean clothes and ran a comb through his hair, before jumping down the stairs to slip on his shoes.

“Fourteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds” Lydia said, looking at her stylish watch. 

Stiles smiled, toeing on his shoes and quickly doing up the laces. “I’m nothing if not punctual.”

Lydia smacked him in the back of the head as he stood up from tying his shoes. “If you were punctual,” she said, “you would have been ready to go at nine instead of making me wait. Now let’s go.”

Stiles rubbed the spot where she’s hit him, and glared at the back of her head as she opened the front door. He quickly grabbed his red hoodie and his keys and followed her out the door. 

At least they got to drive to the mall in the beamer, Stiles thought to himself as he got into Lydia’s luxury car. 

The ride to the mall took maybe ten minutes, but finding parking took at least twice that. Mainly because Lydia refused to park in just any parking spot. “If you think I’m letting my car get scratched for your convenience, you are seriously mistaken,” she responded to Stiles’s grumbled complaints. 

When they finally had the perfect parking spot, Lydia led Stiles by the arm into the hell that was the mall at Christmas. Stiles could only feel like he was being dragged to his doom. 

Inside, the mall was a riot of shoppers, children, Christmas music, and strings of lights and decorations. It was extremely overwhelming. Even Lydia had to take a moment to stop and get her bearings. 

Taking a deep breath, Lydia narrowed her eyes as she settled into business mode. “All right, first stop, Michael Kors.”

Stiles groaned, but let himself be led on.

***

Around three o’clock, Stiles had to throw in the towel. Now he knew why Lydia had insisted they start early. They had only managed to make it through five stores in as many hours, most of that time had been spent waiting in line for cashiers. At least he’d managed to find a warm flannel robe for his dad, a drone batwing for Scott, and a couple books for Lydia and Mrs. McCall. He’d gotten caught staring at a leather jacket by Lydia, but she was gracious enough not to comment, dragging Stiles to the next store wordlessly.

Stiles groaned as he dropped into a chair in the food court. The collection of his own shopping bags and the ones Lydia had forced him to carry crashed to the ground around him. He didn’t know how those retail workers did it on their feet all day. Five hours and he already knew he was going to have sore feet for a week.

Lydia sat more primly in the seat across from him, though she did remove her shoe and begin rubbing her foot.

“Whyyyyyyy,” Stiles whined for probably the 50th time, wondering if he could get away with taking off his own shoes then deciding he didn’t have the energy to bend back down to re-tie them. He dropped his head down to the table on top of his folded arms. 

Lydia chuckled. “You’ll be happy to know that I have finished my shopping for the day,” she said.

Stiles’s head snapped up in surprise. “So you mean we can go home?” he asked hopefully.

“Not quite,” Lydia answered.

Stiles groaned again, his face falling.

“Hush,” Lydia admonished, “I’m doing this for you.”

Stiles screwed his face up in confusion. “What are you talking about? I got the last of my gifts at Books-A-Million!”

Lydia just smiled. “But not my gift to you.”

Stiles cocked his head slightly. “What the hell does that mean?”

But Lydia ignored the question. Smiling sweetly, she asked, “are you able to stand back up?” 

Stiles’s fatigue was forgotten in his curiosity. He pulled himself into a standing position and stretched backwards, popping his back in the process. “Let’s do this!”

Lydia shook her head ruefully, standing herself. “Don’t forget my bags!” Lydia scolded.

Stiles rolled his eyes as he bent back down to gather the pile of bags. He groaned as he stood back up with his load of Lydia’s purchases.

Lydia led the way from the food court, down the escalator, and through the crowds. After a few minutes, she stopped and turned to Stiles. “Here we are!” She said brightly, gesturing behind her. 

Stiles looked around her in confusion. She had stopped in front of the “take a picture with Santa” area they set up in the middle of the mall every year. Stiles squinted at Lydia in confusion. 

“Why are we here?” He asked.

“This is your Christmas present,” she replied cooly, “You’re gonna go sit in Santa’s lap!” 

Stiles stared at her, unbelieving. “What?” he deadpanned

Lydia gave him a Cheshire cat smile, and pulled Stiles to stand up next to her at the velvet ropes that outlined the area. The gleam in her eyes meant that Stiles had pretty much no choice in the matter, and Stiles felt himself begin to panic. 

“Lydia, I am not going to go sit in Santa’s lap, okay,” he began hysterically, “This is clearly here for kids and I would totally make that poor man uncomfortable not to mention probably be kicked out of the mall and…oh, great, now Santa’s staring at us. Well, glaring more like it. He probably has people try and do this all the time, I mean, look at how his biceps are straining the sleeves on that suit and…oh, wow, Santa is really glaring at me now, he’s got like angry death eyebrows happening and…Holy shit, that’s Derek!”

The man in question was definitely giving his best angry scowl at Stiles and Lydia. Stiles seemed to have lost the ability to think for a moment and merely waved. Derek didn’t wave back, turning his attention toward the little kid who was climbing the stairs up to where Derek sat, his expression melting into one that was both kind and jolly. He reached down and plucked the child up from the stairs, settling them in his lap and began having a private conversation with them, chortling and smiling sweetly. 

“Guh,” Stiles uttered, unable to form coherent words. 

Derek’s eyes flashed to Stiles’s for a moment, before returning to the child in his lap.

Lydia took that moment to press her fingers to Stiles’s chin, closing his gaping mouth. 

“So now are you going to get in line?” She asked.  
Stiles nodded, keeping his eyes on the way Derek was smiling and laughing with the kid. Suddenly years of repressed feelings were overwhelming him and he didn’t know what to try and process first, the idea of Derek in a Santa suit, or the image of Derek playing with kids. 

Lydia dragged him zombie-like to the end of the line.   
There were only two kids in front of them, most of the other people supposedly having already gotten their pictures in this close to Christmas. Stiles was snapped out of his stupor at the thought that very soon, in like, minutes, he would be sitting in the lap of the man who had awakened gay feelings in him. Stiles tore his eyes from Derek and glared at Lydia.

“Why are you doing this?” he angry-whispered at her. 

“Because,” she said, rolling her eyes, “You and I both know that you will never let yourself have a chance with anyone else unless you get Derek out of your system. Besides,” Lydia leaned in, her voice barely a whisper, “I have it on good authority that you might not be so one-sided in your pining.” 

Stiles looked up at Derek, then back a Lydia, “What? You can’t be serious! There’s no way…”

“Stiles, listen to me,” Lydia interrupted, “I know high school left you feeling like you were undesirable, but I am going to tell you once and once only that you are both attractive and clever, and any person in their right mind would be lucky to have you. Just because some idiot in a small town high school didn’t fall madly in love with you doesn’t mean that you’re some sort of ugly leper. You, Stiles Stilinski, are hot stuff and you need to realize that.”

Stiles stood baffled for a moment. “Lydia…” he whispered.

She smiled and shook her head. “You’re my best friend, Stiles. I can’t let you go on like this. You need to tell Derek how you feel.”

Stiles stared back at her. “What if he says he doesn’t feel the same way?” His voice was shaking. 

“Then you move on.” Lydia said, “it’ll hurt, but you’ll get over it. And you’ll still have your friends.”

Stiles couldn’t speak for a moment. He held Lydia’s gaze, thinking about how much things had changed since high school. He looked up to where Derek was talking to another child, remembering all the tension between the two of them. They’d spent so long dancing around each other, eventually forging a friendship after years of fighting side by side. The idea that they could have more sent butterflies stirring in his stomach.

Lydia took the bags from Stiles’s hands, having to tug just a little bit to get his hands to unclench.

“Lydia, I’m scared,” Stiles said, staring at Derek, who was waving goodbye to the kid who had been in his lap. 

 

“Scary things are often the ones most worth doing,” Lydia said. 

Stiles turned and smiled ruefully at her.

“Next!” The guy dressed as an elf called, causing Stiles to jerk his head around. The elf looked Stiles up and down, a sneer on his face. 

Stiles rolled his eyes at the jerk, then turned his gaze to Derek, catching his glare, and pushed past the elf.

“Hey, you’re supposed to have kids!” The guy called out behind him.

“Give them a few years,” Stiles heard Lydia say. He smiled, pulling back his shoulders and putting on all the false bravado he could. 

Stiles strode bravely up the stairs, planting himself in front of Derek. 

“So, Santa, do I just plop myself in your lap?” Stiles joked, “it’s been a few years since I’ve done this.”

“Stiles…” Derek growled. 

“Oh, come on, Sourwolf, have a little fun!” Stiles turned and situated himself on Derek’s knee, twisting a little back and forth to get comfortable and throwing his arm around Derek’s shoulders. 

Derek glared up at Stiles, his eyebrows (powdered! As if that would hide them!) scrunched together in the middle. His normally plump lips were mostly hidden by the fake white beard.

“What the hell are you doing, Stiles?” Derek asked. 

“Well, I was shopping with Lydia, and she reminded me that I hadn’t told Santa what I want for Christmas yet.”   
Stiles replied, unable to stop the shit-eating grin from splitting his face. 

Derek stared balefully up at him. 

“Well, come on, aren’t you going to ask me if I’ve been a good boy this year?” Stiles chided.

Derek huffed, then stared up a Stiles for a few moments. “Look, Stiles, if you’re just here to make fun of me, can you do it later? There are kids who want to talk to Santa, and they still believe in good things.”

Stiles heart broke a little at that. “Der, I…” he started, then swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. “I’m not just here to make fun of you. I…I wanted to ask you…”

Derek looked so vulnerable, almost scared, that Stiles almost couldn’t finish, but he knew that if he stopped now, he’d never get another chance. 

“I wanted to ask you…what you’re doing for Christmas?” Stiles asked. 

Derek blinked up at Stiles. “Well, I’m, uh…well, I was gonna skype with Cora.” 

“Yeah, and then what else?” Stiles pressed on.

Derek shook his head, “that’s it.”

Stiles nodded, “Well, would you want to spend Christmas with me, then?” 

Derek’s eyes widened. “Stiles…”

Stiles could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “My dad is gonna be working Christmas Day and Scott and his mom went to visit family down in San Diego, so it’ll just be me by myself and…” Stiles faltered, but saw the hope in Derek’s eyes and pressed on, “…and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend Christmas with than you, Derek Hale.”

Derek eyes searched Stiles for any hint of falsehood, though Stiles knew he could hear the truth of his heartbeat. After a few heart wrenching moments, Derek surged up, catching Stiles’s mouth with his own in a sweet kiss. 

The kiss lasted only moment, but Stiles felt it all the way down to his toes. When Derek pulled back, he had a smile on his face. Stiles couldn’t stop himself from tasting his lips. “So…is that a yes?” Stiles asked breathlessly.

Derek nodded. “I would love to, Stiles.”

Stiles smiled widely, “Great. I…I’ll text you?” 

Derek nodded. 

“Hey, you two, over here!” 

Derek and Stiles turned to took at Lydia, who was holding up her phone to take the picture. Stiles couldn’t wipe the grin off his face, no matter what he did. 

After snapping a couple pictures, she gave them a thumbs up. 

Derek snaked he arm around Stiles waist and gave him a squeeze, tentative as it was. Stiles looked back at Derek’s face and did the same around his shoulders. 

“When do you get off tonight?” Stiles asked, feeling bold.

“Eight,” Derek replied. 

“Are you doing anything tonight?” Stiles asked. 

“That depends, are you?” Derek replied.

Stiles smiled. “How about you text me and we figure it out from there?” 

Derek smiled back. “Okay.”

Lydia cleared her throat from across the way. 

Stiles took his cue and stood up. “Merry Christmas, Santa,” he said, stepping off the stairs. 

“Merry Christmas, Stiles,” Derek called after him.

Stiles practically floated away from chair, walking over to where Lydia waited for him.

“So, how did it go?” Lydia asked, “did my present turn out like I hoped?”

Stiles smiled at her, then shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know about your present,” Stiles glanced up at Derek, who was picking up the next kid in line. “But I think I will definitely be getting the best present ever from Santa this Christmas.” 

Derek’s face reddened and his eyes flashed to Stiles momentarily, indicating that he had been listening in on their conversation.

Stiles just smiled at him, suddenly very excited for what might be coming in the new year.

**Author's Note:**

> For hale-of-stiles-heart.tumblr.com I hope you like it! I got the image of Derek in a Santa suit into my head and I couldn’t stop myself!


End file.
